Public sees economy plunging, poll says

The American public has rendered a verdict on the nation\’s economic future, and it isn\’t pretty.

The Web site Rasmussen Reports issued a number of polls Tuesday and Wednesday, showing that consumers have a much more dire outlook than they did at the beginning of the year. In one poll released Wednesday, Rasmussen finds that 74% of those surveyed believe the economy is getting worse, which is up from the 45% figure reached when 2011 began. Now, just 10% feel the economy is getting better while 30% believed that to be the case when the year started.

Rasmussen also found that in its own survey, consumer confidence is down to 60.1, down 5 points from a week ago, 8 points from a month ago and 16 points from three months ago. The baseline is 100, with declining confidence below that mark and rising confidence above it.

And in another survey, Rasmussen found that 62% of those questioned believe that the spending \”cuts\” proposed by Congress simply means that lawmakers will only curb spending growth, not actually reduce the amount they spend.

In other polls released Tuesday, Rasmussen also found that 50% of all those surveyed believe the job market is worse than it was a year ago. That\’s 11 points higher than it was in June and at its highest level since August 2009.

And as the Dow plunged another 400 points or more on Wednesday, President Barack Obama faces an uphill fight against a Republican challenger. He trails what Rasmussen calls a \”generic\” Republican challenger by 3 points, the service said.

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